Through the Eyes of a Beastling
by SNicole25
Summary: If there was one thing in the afterlife she wasn't prepared for, it was being reborn as the daughter of Konoha's 'Fabled Green Beast'. Rewrite of 'The Green Beastling' I wrote on my other profile, Sweetlilsunshine. SI/OC
1. Chapter 1

_**A/n: I do not own any Naruto copyrights.**_

 _Ba-dump_

Surrounded by water and trapped, the enclosure was dark enough for her eyes to be either open or closed. It was tight but not uncomfortable, floating there. When she'd first woken up in that place, no longer able to breath, move, or utter a word . . . well, it'd been disorientating. This was so different from the hospital room, so much a contrast to the sterile world.

She'd thought it was a dream.

 _Ba-dump_

At first at least.

Or maybe it was a sort of coma, a disease that finally got the upper hand after all those years. Had her feeble mind conjured up distant memories to occupy the time while its body withered? Had she died? Was this what death was?

 _Ba-dump_

A horrible thought, a shudder, and a few limbs lashing to strike rubbery walls.

Did death have limbs? Fingers? Toes? Hands?

She did. Clenched to the cord tethered to her waist. Fluttered to a beat that she could never not hear.

 _Ba-dump_

Beat?

 _Ba-dump_

A Heart?

 _Ba-dump_

Did death have a heart?

No, she wasn't dead. She was something else entirely.

Something that floated, on a cord, to the endless chorus of someone else's heart.

 _Oh please wake up,_ she begged, not entirely sure as to who, _please let this really only be just a dream._

 _Ba-dump_

She didn't wake up, not to the heart monitor and IV, though on occasion there'd be a moment of drifting into a primitive version of sleep. Time passed, and as it did she began to catalog whatever she could glean about herself. As much information as possible. The end of this nightmare couldn't be a surprise.

Her _birth_ would not be a surprise.

She'd used this tactic back at the hospital, noting things like a nurse's gossip and the number of drugs given so that she wouldn't be in the dark on a surgery day. It used to make her feel useful, all that knowing. Ironic that it could be put to so much use even after the battle'd been lost.

Still, there really was a lot to learn once one sat back and listened, even as the unborn baby she suspected she was. Small things -the heartbeat proving her ears were developed, for one- could show so much if you only paid attention. Like how it'd been at the hospital, everything that would bring her closer to the goal was added to -and then checked off- the proverbial list. Her knowledge on life in the womb was next to none, yet it was enough.

Enough to get what she needed.

Enough to know she would be born soon.

Enough to realize there would be no waking to reality anytime soon. That she'd actually have to go through with this.

Sure enough, what was guessed to be two, maybe three days later, it happened. First awoken by a sudden and painful tightening of the prison, she was unceremoniously shoved headfirst down a tube. This was both horrifying and disgusting. It wasn't even second to projectile vomiting or chronic diarrhea, both of which previously experienced during her more extensive 'treatments'.

But no matter how terrifying this feeling was, it still wasn't the worst part of the experience. Feeling like a watermelon shoved down a straw was bad. Coming out of a bloody hole screaming and coughing up afterbirth was much, much worse.

Hands caught her as she screeched and kicked, completely disgusted by what she'd endured. Voices echoed and bright lights blinded blurry baby eyes. Suddenly she stopped kicking, breath coming faster and faster as something was realized, something wrong.

She couldn't understand the voices.

 _Why aren't they speaking English?_ _This is supposed to be my memories. This is supposed to be my language._

Another stream of unintelligible syllables sounded from above as she slowly sunk into hyperventilation. Almost immediately afterwards a quick but gentle hand slapped her back. Realizing she was probably scaring these people with a panic attack, the breaths quieted and the strange voices stopped sounding so harried.

The hands lifted her into a small basin, rubbing her most likely miniscule body clean. Something fuzzy and pink wrapped around her, swaddling her from head to toe in what was assumed to be a blanket.

Whoever owned the hands gently lowered her down. Down and into thin, obviously feminine, arms.

 _Ba-dump._

The heartbeat. This was the heartbeat.

Her mother.

She wasn't confused anymore. If anything she was calmer than before. Unlike the rest of the encounter –what with waking up in a womb, experiencing her own birth, and suddenly realizing no one spoke the language she knew- this part was fairly simple. The nurse, as that was probably who the owner of the hands was, had placed her in the arms of her mother.

Now she would bring them face to face.

There was a baby's smile as the thought of her mother. She'd been such a gentle and kind woman. Someone that'd never complained, not even when her daughter had been bedridden for years at a time. Would she look different?

Petite hands lifted her.

Would a younger her look less haggard, less tired?

A woman's face swam into view as, like predicted, a woman's hands brought her close. The blurriness faded as the distance closed. The face of a stranger came into view. Spurred by the pure shock of the moment, she cried.

This was _not_ her mother.

Her mother had been blonde and beautiful. She hadn't possessed the thin waves of chocolate brown hair that fell so chaotically around this woman's too skinny frame. The slightly unhinged cinnamon eyes staring out at her were as far from her mother's warm blue ones as the sun was from the sea.

It was shocking . . .

 _A terrifying pressure rising in her veins, like lava under her skin._

Confusing . . .

 _What is this? Nonononononono this isn't supposed to be here!_

And _horrible_ to see someone else in the place where only one person should be.

 _The pressure broke, like a damn filled too full, too fast._

The lava flared off her skin in a wave that was only tangible to her. She was no longer crying. Now she _screamed._

For a second the woman only stared at the child wailing in her arms, like she didn't quite get who she was either. Then the lava came and the woman jerked like she'd been electrocuted.

She slapped her.

Or at least, she _tried_. She was out of her arms before she could make contact, wrestled away by familiar hands as someone shouted things in that strange language. Suddenly exhausted beyond what she'd ever been, silence fell if only because she no longer had the strength to scream. The blurry figure on the bed lay back, not nonchalantly but a collapse. As if she was just as exhausted as she was.

And afraid. There'd been terror in those cinnamon eyes.

A blink, where was her mother? Why were they handing her to such an insane woman?

Or was she insane? Maybe it was perfectly sane to be terrified of the one child on the planet that spewed lava when they freaked.

Come to think of it, she'd probably have flipped too.

Whoever had rescued her obviously disagreed. They hugged her tight to their chest, murmuring soothing words as they hurried from the woman's bed and through a nearby door. She bumped against the figures breasts as her -and it must have been a woman- walking jarred her, but that wasn't all.

There was a metal plate fastened to a cloth necklace around her neck, worn like a choker.

The strange thing about it wasn't the fact that she had it on, lots of people had jewelry. What made it strange was the vague pattern cut into the metal, one that she recognized vividly.

 _Who would have thunk it, my nurse is a cosplayer, and of Naruto no less._

It was actually a bit refreshing. The nurses back at the hospital would've never have watched the anime, much less actually stoop to wear merchandise from it. She'd pestered them about it all the time, especially after surgeries or treatments. If this nurse had been there, maybe those times would've been more fun.

Come to think of it, if one of the nurses was decked out in cosplay, did that mean she _wasn't_ re-experiencing my own birth? Of course she already expected it. Even if that woman _was_ her mother, she'd definitely never had the lava before.

And Naruto hadn't been around when she'd come into the world the first time.

 _Am I not in a coma at all? Is this all some sort of freaky reincarnation?_

The musings were interrupted when the nurse stopped, said a few more words in gibberish, and laid her in a glass box. Careful on a nearly ridiculous level, the woman laid one of her gigantic hands on the center of her tiny chest. A moment, and then . . .

Lava, green lava.

She promptly burst into tears. Of course she did, she was a baby now.

The nurse whispered some more soothing words, only made all the more stranger by how _warm_ the lava became. It shut her up at least, if only because the lava from before hadn't felt like _that._ Seemingly satisfied, the nurse wrote something on a clipboard she hadn't noticed.

Then she pulled away, said something else, and left.

The baby in the box sighed as she began to blur, becoming nothing more than just a mass of colors until she was gone completely.

Judging from the whimpers and cries around her, the room she was in was obviously a nursery. Like the womb, and even like her first sight of her supposed 'mother' –as the heartbeat marked her as-, she was pretty sure she knew how this would go. New language or not, nurseries were the same everywhere. And if they were the same here? Well she'd have a lot of waiting to do.

Again.

Just like it'd been before, and had been on countless occasions back in the old hospital, she began to listen. Now this was amazingly hard when one didn't understand a word of the conversations around them but, believe it or not, there were other things to listen to too.

Like her new name. This was, of course, said in the same gibberish that all their words were spoken in. The name they had written on the box was not only backward -it was on the other side of the glass- but also entirely in scribbles as well. At first it seemed impossible, but then she began to notice something about a couple of the conversations she could hear.

The visitors of the other babies ignored her, but the nurses talked to them all.

One nurse, the same nurse who had -and still did occasionally- used the green lava, cooed slow, obviously baby-ish talk whenever she changed or fed her. Compared to the faster gibberish that everyone else used, her words were by far the easiest to distinguish. Though she still couldn't understand her, it was enough to make out that one important phrase, repeated over and over again as she babbled.

Ah there it was _, Kaori_.

Or should she say Kaori- _chan_? Something that was not only her new name but also a huge hint as to where she was. Suffixes were only really common in one language after all.

 _What do you know? Not only do the nurses do Naruto cosplay but they speak Japanese as well._

Was it a coincidence? The lava wasn't the only strange thing about this new life, she knew. Besides the obvious and sudden fact that she'd been _reborn_ , there was also the Naruto wear and her new Japanese name, apparently given by a new mother who could in no way actually be Japanese.

What the hell was going on?

Kaori was confused, not to mention curious, but had no time to ponder her questions. The moment she'd even _begun_ to think them, something happened. Something that'd snuck in the first time it'd really gone dark. Most of the nurses had gone by that point –it was probably pretty late- and there were none at all when she first spotted it.

There, in the corner, lurking its way through the cradles.

'It' was what could only be called a tall, grey blob, description curtesy of her blurry baby eyes. The blob knew what it was looking for. None of the other babies were spared so much of a glance before it strolled over to stare at her. Kaori felt more than a little nervous, just watching him watch her, but she really shouldn't have bothered. The grey blob stared, read the clipboard, and then stared some more. Nothing else, not even a courtesy pick up to give her a clue as to who the hell she was dealing with.

After some more ogling and a noise that sounded oddly like "Hn", the grey blob turned around and left.

 _Um . . . What?_

Later, after a long doze that most likely made it the next day, her rather disgruntled nurse came in to pluck Kaori from the box for good. The lady didn't sound very happy as she carried her down to who knew where. Not that the girl had to wait long to find out _why_. The moment they entered the lobby -or at least that's what it was assumed it to be- Kaori was unceremoniously shoved into a woman's arms.

A blink later and the face of a woman had come into view, bringing with it the urge to panic and scream all over again.

Only there was no lava this time, no sudden feeling of ' _ohmygodicantbreathwhatisthis'._

She felt fine.

Well as fine as she could be, all things considering. It was no wonder the nurse had been upset. She had been ordered to hand a baby over to a mother who had already tried to hurt it. Hell, Kaori knew about the lava and was still pretty upset by it.

Then again, that made sense too, after all, she _was_ the baby that almost got slapped.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

After a very tense walk through the very loud streets of wherever they were, the woman took Kaori to a building that could've only been her home. Or at least part of the building was her home. From the sheer amount of steps there were to climb, it didn't take long to peg the place as an apartment complex.

There was a moment of stillness before the sound of a door opening registered to baby senses, the faint jingling of keys identifying it as _her_ door. Kaori nearly sighed with relief at the sound; glad that the journey was almost over. She was tired, hungry and -embarrassing as it was to admit- a little wet. All she wanted was to be out of the woman's arms and into the arms of someone who actually cared. Someone who wouldn't look at their child with those terrified eyes.

A maid maybe, or a live in relative? Someone to rely on for the necessities at least.

For the first time since the hospital, gibberish floated through the air and into small ears, this time sounding in a sarcastic voice that could only be the woman's. Out of curiosity Kaori listened to the words closely, hoping to unravel the meanings in their random syllables. It was only after a second or two of this that she experienced something rather new.

She was flying.

Little eyes widened with horror as she thumped down in a cushioned basket, the impact jarring her baby body enough for everything to rattle. Kaori could only stare as the blurry form of her new 'mother' retreated further into her home, giving not even one care to what she had just done. Hurt and confused, the girl did what her new body had wanted to do since she'd first realized what was happening.

Kaori began to scream.

And scream.

And _scream_.

She threw her. That horrible woman _threw_ her. Was this some kind of karma? Had her sick and frail self before been such a bad person that _this_ is what she got in the end, a mother who slapped _and_ threw her child?

What was her reason? There'd been no lava this time. There'd been no warning at all.

The crying petered out from sheer exhaustion eventually, leaving Kaori to wonder why the woman hadn't come back to shut her up. The last time she'd cried in her presence she had tried to, so why not now when there were no pesky nurses to stop her?

Quiet now, Kaori waited for something to happen, waited for the woman to come back and do something about her growing needs. There really was no one else there, something she'd noticed rather quickly after her initial crying fit. No greeting, no faces eager to see her, and no blurry moving figures besides that of the woman and her own tiny self. Not that she was actually all that used to having a family. It'd just been her and her mom at the hospital. She'd still had someone though, her new life wasn't even shaping up to have that much.

Kaori hoped that woman would remember to feed her. She didn't want her helpless new body to die as soon as she got it.

That at least, the woman did do. After what felt like hours in that basket, she returned to her daughter with a bottle and a new diaper, disappearing again without a word as soon as the girl was no longer in any danger of dying. It became routine as the days began to pass, being left in that basket until she needed to be either fed or cleaned. There _was_ interaction, but only after the woman spent god knows how long doing who knows what in her room first. She'd hole away for hours, always.

Whether it's be to give her a bath, take her along on a shopping trip, or to simply sit with her on the couch, saying nothing as they both stared at the wall. Her ritual never changed.

At first Kaori came up with wild theories, spent hours on deciphering just what this 'ritual' really was. Then she saw the shivering and the pale skin and decided she didn't want to know.

Eventually Kaori became strong enough to crawl around the domain that was the living room. There was no celebration of the new achievement of course, sans a small smile on a particularly good day. The woman rarely talked to her daughter. What she did say was either quiet or sarcastic and, for the most part, seemed to be said _through_ rather than _at_.

Anything dangerous _was_ moved out of the way though.

About a month or two after the crawling phase, right when the girl was relearning how to pull herself onto objects, she learned something about her 'mother' that threw her for a loop. Edging slowly along a bookcase, alone because the woman was in her room again, she'd swiped a pudgy hand along a shelf just out of her reach. It was all in the hopes of knocking off a book and getting some means of understanding the language. She _did_ get something, _did_ knock it to the ground. It just wasn't a book.

A heavy metal plate, fixed to a blue cloth, thumped to her feet.

Startled, Kaori fell to a heavy sit and picked up the plate with her clumsy baby hands. Her eyes were better than they'd been the last time she'd seen one, back when it'd been resting so snugly against her nurse's neck. She could see the carefully etched leaf now, feel the cold metal against her skin.

It was so _real_.

And then it was gone, if only because the woman had run out and snatched it away. Her 'mother' was nearly hysterical, holding the headband –the freaking _hitai-ate_ \- close to her chest before tossing it away like it burned. Then she began to scream, shaking Kaori for emphasis even though she still couldn't understand what she said.

Curling into a ball with tears running down her cheeks, it was a relief when the woman ran back into her room. Even when she didn't come back out till the next day. Even when her daughter went to bed hungry.

And even though the hitai-ate and what it meant left a thousand questions burning in her head, Kaori knew that, even if she _could_ talk, she wouldn't dare to bring it up.

By the time her first birthday had come and gone with barely so much as a shaky smile thrown her way, Kaori'd already graduated to some very wobbly first steps.

Steps that, even though she'd taken a thousand once, still felt amazing to do again.

Time passed and Kaori began to listen more on the occasions the woman would take her to the market. Her little ears were strained to hear and understand what the people around them were saying. This was harder than the walking and the crawling because though the woman -practically her only human interaction- did speak to people in the shops and streets, she rarely spoke to the girl directly, not even at home.

It took longer than it had in her first life that was for certain, but shortly after she turned two, Kaori finally began to get a hang of the gibberish language that was Japanese. Surprisingly enough, this was also when the woman began to open up and actually _talk_ to her.

Maybe she'd just never seen the point before.

Sad to say, this was how Kaori began to learn the important facts about her new life. Through the occasional complaining of the woman who had become her mother. It was how she finally gained the woman's name actually, Takayami Junko. Kaori was just relieved to actually have something other than 'the woman' -or even a tentative 'mother' on a good day- to call her. It made her feel less like the stupid child she'd come across as for so long. After all, what kind of child didn't even know what to call their own mother?

The other thing she eventually learned was only gained through the few times she truly saw Junko's face truly transform into one of rage. The expression, so reminiscent of the day she'd found the hitai-ate, made her cringe every time. There was once though, after she'd followed Junko's gaze to a pair of figures moving impossibly fast on the horizon, that she'd gathered enough courage to ask her about it.

What she'd gotten only confirmed what she'd already suspected for so long.

"Those are _shinobi_ , child." The word 'shinobi' spitten like crap on her tongue. "They're monsters who send children to war and bathe in blood. Don't ever become one, girl. You'll die a stupid death."

And then she'd turned around and continued shopping.

Kaori probably somewhat already knew, to be honest. There were just so many hints. The lava –the _chakra_ -, the hitai-ate, the ninja's, the freaking monument in the distance, it's only been a matter of time before the denial stopped working. No matter how impossible the truth was, it still had to be accepted eventually.

The straw that _really_ broke the camel's back wasn't the headbands or the Hokage monument though, it was just a man. A man named Hatake Kakashi that'd once been her favorite character in another life.

It had started rather simply actually, mainly with Kaori staring her eyes out at the man at the dango stall who _couldn't_ exist. He looked _exactly_ like he had back then, only ten times more real because this wasn't an _anime_ any more.

But that wasn't all, because suddenly the girl came to the startling realization that that particular moment in time wasn't the first time she'd seen him in this life.

That slouch, the startling grey hair, the way he 'just so happened' to be in the same place as she was even though there was no way it'd been a coincidence the first time . . .

 _Holy shit, he's the grey blob._

 _ **A/n: Hello everybody, in case you didn't know, this is a rewrite for a story I did on my sweetlilsunshine account called the 'Green Beastling'. I feel like I've fixed many of the problems that I didn't like about the original story, but if you see something confusing or have read the other story and have something you want fixed, feel free to leave a review and tell me. This is also where I'll answer all questions come next chapter. Thanks for reading!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/n: I do not own any Naruto copyrights.**_

After a few minutes of gaping, Kaori came to the interesting conclusion that Kakashi knew about her. Not just that she existed –she'd already established that- but that she was _there._ There, next to the fruit stand and holding an apple. The merchant had been kind enough to give it to her while Junko haggled.

He obviously knew she was staring at him. Given he was a ninja and she was two, there was no way he could've missed it.

And yet he did nothing, just munched –somehow through the mask he'd yet to remove- and waited. Waited, she realized with a start, for her to make the first move.

 _But why would I? For all he knows I'm a toddler with no idea who he is. Does he expect Junko to tell me about him?_

Kaori shot a look at the crazy, ninja-hating woman and snorted at the thought. The only way he'd think _that_ would be if he didn't know the woman at all. Unless . . .

Eyes suddenly wide, the girl stared at her wild and curly hair with nothing less than astonishment. It was so thick and black that she'd always assumed it a genetic 'hand me down' from whoever'd been insane enough to help Junko create her.

Or not so insane, seeing as he hadn't been heard of since.

No, that was a stupid thought. It couldn't be him. Kakashi's hair was grey.

Kaori threw her apple at him.

The grey haired ninja across the street had obviously been watching her inner drama play out. His eye was crinkled in a very amused way. He sidestepped the fruit she'd launched at him too, effortlessly and with every ounce of ninja grace. But that was ok. Kaori's plan, which –though certainly spur of the moment- she _did_ have, had never been about _attacking_.

It'd been about an excuse to get close.

So get close she did.

"Hello Stranger-san" The girl said with an oddly formal lisp. An unfortunate side effect of learning an entire language entirely through the dealings of overly-polite shop owners. "My apple rolled behind you, could you hand it to me?"

"Mah mah," Kakashi said, tilting his head to look down at her. There was an embarrassingly long distance between her height and his. "It's dirty now. Are you sure you want to eat it?"

A bit thrown by the unexpected tangent, Kaori shrugged her little shoulders. She didn't really want to talk about this, not when what she _really_ had to say was more or less 'Hey I remember you from my first day alive, how do you know me again?'.

Still, polite was polite and a lifetime of manners wasn't easily erased.

"Of course I will."

True. Despite having thrown it, Kaori still had every intention to eat her apple. Being bruised and muddy was no excuse to waste food, especially when the problem could be fixed with a rinse.

 _Well that and there's no telling if Junko'll remember to feed me later._

The man held her gaze for a second too long. Then he bent down, grabbed the apple, and gave her a stick of dango instead.

A blink.

"But-"

"It's a trade. What kind of person lets a cute kid eat food off the street?"

It took a second to sink in, but when it did the sudden kindness hit her like a freight train. It wasn't unexpected exactly –this _was_ Kakashi-, but it'd been so long since someone had done something for her just to _do_ it that the little girl who wasn't really little found herself getting a bit choked up.

After all, Junko was obliged to keep her alive. Kakashi didn't have to care at all.

Speaking of which, said masked man's eyes were getting rather big. The tears -an unfortunate side effect of emotion to a child's body- probably had something to do with that.

"Now now, don't cry. It's just a-"

And then he stopped, if only because someone could be so much louder. Someone whose current grip on her daughter's shoulder would more than likely bruise.

"You! How dare you talk to my daughter like that! Coming here, all high and mighty just because you're a fucking shinobi. Did you think you could turn her into a killer? Make her want to throw away everything for that 'Will of Fire' bullshit? I won't allow it! My daughter's not going to die too!"

It was at this point of time, watching Junko seethe at a man a good foot taller than her in a bizarre parody of 'motherly love', that Kaori had two thoughts.

One:

 _So much for today being alright. Now there really won't be any dinner tonight._

And . . .

 _Wait . . . did she say 'too'?_

Kakashi didn't even flinch.

"Hello Junko-chan, I didn't know you had a daughter."

A lie, but only because Kaori _knew_ he'd visited her hours after birth. But maybe he hadn't known Junko was her mother? No, that couldn't be it either. The clipboard he'd read couldn't have _not_ had her name on it.

Which meant he was lying because he didn't want Junko to knowthat he knew.

Like that somehow had been an insult, the woman turned a furious shade of red. Hard eyes fixed the silver ninja with a vicious glare. "Leave."

No answers yet no questions, this was a demand. Pure and simple.

Kakashi didn't go. Instead his eye seemed to wander over to Kaori again, all crinkle gone. For the first time she wondered what he was seeing. A too thin girl with sallow cheeks? Or perhaps it was the thin clothing that he saw first? There was a blush as the thought had her turning her face away, suddenly ashamed that he'd seen her so low.

Not that the copy ninja mentioned her shabby state. The look he fixed Junko with was _fierce_ though.

"Tell me Junko," No cutesy suffixes this time. It only made him seem more menacing. "Is her father who I think it is?"

Now _that_ got Kaori's attention, especially when Junko snapped and dug her nails so far into her shoulder that there was almost definitely blood. But the girl could care less about that. What he'd said was far too interesting. He? Her father? _Kakashi Hatake_ knew her _father_? It was all a bit much to take in, not to mention eerily similar to who she'd assumed him to be not an hour ago.

Of course this –while meaning that Kakashi himself wasn't in the running- narrowed down potential paternal candidates by more than half. If _THE_ copy ninja knew him, he couldn't be anyone too unimportant.

Hell, he might actually be in the series itself.

"Leave us alone!" Junko practically screamed, tearing her daughter away from her thoughts and back into the reality of steadily being dragged down the street. Kakashi had followed –because _of course_ he did- and Junko had taken that as well as she took anything. Namely by openly glaring and twisting her mouth into an ugly snarl.

"Go be a shinobi, you have no right to butt into our lives!" She screeched, nails now digging even further into her toddler.

This time Kaori did flinch, remembering the woman who'd shaken her and been generally unpleasant for two years straight. She really hoped he'd stop making her mad, the last thing she needed was bruises _and_ no dinner. At this rate she might even get a slap in as well.

She must have been cowering, because Kakashi's eye went hard.

One instant Kaori was cringing under her mother's hand and the next she was free, torn between staring at her liberated arm and at the man who had liberated it. It was over so quick that she wasn't even sure he'd been the one to do it. Was this what ninja speed truly was?

"You must have not realized you were hurting her." Kakashi explained in a too-serious-to-be-joking voice, one hand still on her shoulder as the woman before them gaped. "Don't worry, she's fine now."

"Give her back!" The woman cried as she launched herself at the much more able ninja, suddenly all claws. "She's mine! GIVE HER BACK!"

Kakashi dodged with much more grace than she attacked, fluidly pulling the girl out of the way as he did so. "Do you think Konoha's police would be happy with her condition? What about the Hokage?"

Junko slowed, looking uncertain for a second before resolve hardened her face. If possible, she looked even _more_ terrifying than she usually did. Almost like . . .

"I know my rights Hatake. If you take her from me, I _will_ press charges."

Almost like a ninja.

 _No. Freaking. Way._

Kakashi's eye crinkled in a way that was more frown than smile. Slowly, amazingly, he let her go. Then he stepped away and watched in distaste as Junko swept back in like a vulture.

"Satisfied?"

The woman just glared, said nothing, and dragged her daughter back home.

This time Kakashi didn't follow.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

She'd been right.

Junko wasn't making dinner tonight.

Just as predictably, the woman had made a beeline for her room as soon as they'd made it through the door. That'd been hours ago. It'd probably be hours more before she came back out.

Knowing both the signs and what she'd have to do, Kaori ate her dango and dragged her old basket to the kitchen. The thing, long replaced by the couch in terms of sleeping arrangements, still worked wonders as a stool. Which is exactly what the toddler used it for as she grabbed a pan and proceeded to make eggs.

To be honest, the girl was more than a little disappointed with how the day's episode had worked out.

When Kakashi had grabbed her like that she had this thought, this stupid, _stupid_ thought that he was about to whisk her away to family that actually _cared_.

Because, even after all these years away from her tired, blond, _real_ mom, she missed that. She probably always would.

But no, Junko'd brought the law into it and won. It'd never actually occurred to Kaori that Konoha had a legal system beyond the Hokage, but now she realized they had to. Perhaps it was just from hardly stepping outside an apartment in over two years, but the city seemed far too pleasant to have no laws at all.

So yeah, child snatching was probably illegal.

 _That doesn't mean it doesn't suck._

With a sigh, Kaori pushed the eggs onto a plate and turned off the stove. Seconds before she climbed down from her makeshift stool, something happened. Something that lifted her mood considerably.

The doorbell rang.

Because no one _ever_ rang the bell, a very confused Kaori dragged her basket into the living room to see who it was.

And because Junko wouldn't even come out if the house was on fire, she clambered onto the basket, looked through the peephole, and nearly fell right back off again.

Never, not once in two years, had there ever been three ninja on her doorstep.

One of them was Kakashi.

Sparing a glance at the room Junko _still_ hadn't emerged from, Kaori opened the door.

Understandably surprised by the toddler on the basket, the three men took a moment to stare. Kakashi recovered first.

"Hello, Takayami-chan." He said, surprising Kaori with her last name. "Is your mother home?"

"Yes," The girl hesitated, if only because the woman could get rather violent if disturbed from her room. She'd know. Still, ninja were a great equalizer.

So she raised a finger and pointed.

"She's in there."

The two unfamiliar ninja went to the door. Kakashi stayed with her.

"Who are they?" She asked him because their uniforms were entirely different from every other shinobi she'd seen so far. And because she now realized she'd never asked him: "Who are you?"

"My name is Kakashi Hatake and they're the Konoha Police. Don't be afraid, we're here to make sure you're safe."

The Police? That'd explain why she didn't recognize them right away. All the police were Uchiha. And all the Uchiha were dead by the time the series got around to starting.

She frowned. If they _weren't_ dead then where did that put her? Before Naruto turned seven obviously, yet not too far as Kakashi was far from a kid himself. And wasn't that callous? Judging events by when people –who were standing _right there_ \- would die?

 _I need to stop thinking of this as fiction. It's really_ really _not._

"Alright?"

Kakashi had seen her mental moral dilemma. She could tell because he was now looking at her with what could only be concern. Could he tell she wasn't exactly normal? That she was as far from a two year old as one could get? The thought made her heart jump. She really hoped he'd blame it on the bad upbringing.

The _last_ thing she needed was the truth getting out.

So she turned to him and hoped she looked toddler enough to get her by.

"I'm fine Hatake-san. I'm not really afraid, I never get hurt once she goes to her room. I made eggs too, so it doesn't matter if there's no dinner. Are you here because Junko screamed at you in the market?"

It was amazing what one could tell through what little was actually visible of Kakashi's face. There'd been shock and disbelief at first, but now it was quickly settling on what she'd already seen in the market.

Anger.

"You call Junko by her name?" He seemed to want to say a lot more. Kaori wondered if this was the most child-friendly.

She shrugged.

"What else would I call her? I-"know "-have seen mothers. She doesn't act like one."

CRASH

Kaori jumped as any further conversation they could've had quickly died. Turning with Kakashi –who _hadn't_ jumped-, she shot a stare at the two ninja policeman. Well, them and the pile of wooden splinters at their feet.

 _Is that . . . Junko's door?_

Apparently ninja don't take too kindly to their knocks being ignored.

As predictable as always, Junko began to scream.

Only this wasn't like finding the hitai-ate or brawling with Kakashi on the street. _This_ was bloodcurdling, the product of every horror movie ever but _worse._ The sound was enough to stun the ninja, enough to keep them staring at whatever was in the room in something that was awfully close to horror.

An expression that should _not_ be worn by people whose career choice was 'death'.

Suddenly uneasy, Kaori took a step towards them. For all that she disliked the woman, there was still the child in her that wanted her to be a 'mom' more than anything. A child who just wanted the screaming to _stop_.

She didn't get very far.

Why? Because the ninja police reacted to her reaction by aiming a hand sign she couldn't understand at Kakashi. Who reacted to _that_ by sweeping her off her feet.

All in under a second.

"Mah mah, Takayami-chan. Let's let the nice police-men do their jobs."

Kaori didn't even bother to fight him, knowing full well that there was no way she'd get far. And so she simply watched, as limp as a doll in Kakashi's arms.

The ninja said something entirely impossible to hear, went into the room and . . .

The screaming stopped.

Kaori said nothing for the first beat of silence, her eyes widened at the second, and by the third she was openly staring at the ninja who just returned from the room. One of them had Junko slung over their back. Just like a sack of potatoes.

"Is . . . is she dead?"

The three ninja shared a glance. She'd bet money that they were communicating somehow.

"No." The one who talked cleared his throat awkwardly. "It's not like that. You're mommy's just sick. _Very_ sick. We need to take her away so that she can get better."

'Very sick' had been her full time occupation once. She knew what doctors really meant when they said it. Knew that when they said it like _that,_ the problem was more mental than it'd ever been otherwise.

 _The paleness, the shaking . . . I_ knew _I didn't want to know._

She _shouldn't_ have known. The questionable sanity of parental figures were not the normal thoughts of a toddler.

So she looked up at the ninja, frowned cutely, and played along.

"Oh. Will she be ok?"

The man smiled, hefting Junko into a better position on his shoulder as he did. He seemed very relieved she'd 'bought' his half-truth.

"Of course she will, Miss Takayami-chan. You're mommy will be better in no time, just you watch." He tilted his head at Kakashi. "Mind taking her to the station while we finish up here?"

The masked ninja stared unblinkingly at Kaori for longer than he probably should have. Long enough that the girl herself started to get nervous. Had he seen through her? Did he know that she'd known –or at least had a hunch- that 'mommy was sick' since day one?

His eye crinkled into a smile.

"Let's get going then. Have you ever seen a ninja run, Takayami-chan?"

Kaori shook her head.

It wasn't _really_ a lie. This body had had very minimal contact with ninja in general. Her last one had only seen them in a fictional cartoon.

"You'll probably like this, then. Hold on tight."

They were at the door by this point, nearly halfway through. She couldn't see what the remaining ninja were doing in her apartment anymore – because 'finish up' meant they _were_ doing something- either. Perhaps that was the point.

It stopped mattering when Kakashi took a flying leap over the railing.

A very startled squeak later and Kaori found herself practicing a death grip on said ninja as he threw himself over the roofs of nearby apartments. He was chuckling too, the bastard. She didn't know why she'd ever thought he was nice.

And yet, though terrifying, it was also wonderfully fun. The wind whipped her already wild hair in crazy directions and the cold of the twilight bit her cheeks pink. It was like nothing Kaori had ever experienced before, not then and certainly not now.

She'd never had the chance to.

So yeah, when they landed too soon in front of a tan building emblazoned with the Uchiha crest, that pout was real.

"You _have_ to teach me how to do that."

Kakashi let out another chuckle, his eye fixed on her with an intensity that was almost sharp. "Maybe I will, when you're older."

Eyes bright and heart the lightest it'd been yet, Kaori did something that surprised even her.

She smiled.

 _My face feels tight. Has it really been so long?_

"Thank you, Hatake-san."

He blinked. She'd caught him off guard.

Then the door to the Police station burst open, startling only the girl with the perception of a toddler. A woman she didn't recognize hurried out.

"Oh good, you're here! Reiji just radioed in. He told me what happened. Is that her? Poor thing, we'll have to contact the orphanage at once."

At the word 'orphanage', Kaori visibly started. She hadn't even known it was an option and, now that she did, it horrified her. Living in a place where _everyone_ was abandoned, alone, and hopeless?

No, definitely not.

Thankfully Kakashi was there to come to her rescue.

"That won't be necessary Mao-kun, she can go stay with her father."

The woman – Mao- frowned. "You know who he is? But the files said . . ."

"A hunch. You'll find I'm pretty good at those."

Still somewhat skeptical, Mao had a sort of stare down with Kakashi before giving in with a sigh. "Well . . . If you're sure. We _do_ have the facilities to do a chakra test. If your pick passes . . . I guess she could go home with him today."

The woman turned with the fairly obvious intention of leading them inside. She got all of two feet before finding Kaori abruptly shoved into her arms. The two blinked at each other in surprise. Kakashi just bit his thumb.

A burst of smoke and-

"Yo." The little dog with the jacket and hitai-ate - _so freaking cute_ \- said before raising his paw. "Want to shake my paw? It's soft and supple."

Poor Mao looked beyond confused.

"Um . . . Hatake-san? Why did you -?"

"Pakkun here will go get him. It shouldn't take long. He's in the village."

Said dog tilted his little head in Kakashi's arms. "Who am I finding?" The ninja must have said something too quiet for anything other than canine ears, because a minute later Pakkun was nodding. "Oh, him. Should be easy enough."

The nin-dog vanished in a burst of speed.

"So what just happened?" Kaori asked absolutely no one as the adults waltzed into the building like nothing had happened. Even Mao, who'd been confused as to _why_ Kakashi had pulled a dog out of thin air, didn't actually seen too phased by the summoning itself.

 _Cute or not, that was still too weird even for me._

"Don't you worry about it honey. Hatake-san's doggy will find your daddy. Then you can go to your new home and live happily ever after. Doesn't that sound fun?" Mao's voice apparently turned annoyingly condescending when faced with toddlers.

"No."

Quite the opposite. Anything as cutesy as what she just said made her want to drive nails through her brain.

Sitting next to them in the waiting area that Mao had led them too, Kakashi cleared his throat. It sounded suspiciously like a smothered laugh. "Now now Takayami-chan, there's no need to be rude. Why don't you smile again? Don't you want your father to see you happy?"

"I didn't _have_ a father until you mentioned one." She said truthfully. And then, because she _was_ curious: "What's he like?"

Probably insane, given that whoever it was had done the funny with _Junko_ of all people. Weren't there any saner women around?

"Well he's-"

The window –yes, the _window_ \- burst open. There was a blur of green spandex and legwarmers.

"Unique."

"Kakashi!" The man that was the blur shouted in a far too excited way "My eternal rival, at long last you seek me out to chall-"

"Gai," Kakashi interrupted quickly, though still calmly. He gestured to the girl sitting on the lap of a very startled Mao. "This is Kaori-chan, Junko's daughter."

There was a pointed look from the silver ninja.

Kaori's eyes widened in what was most likely of utter terror.

" _Your_ daughter, if I'm right."

 _Oh God, why?_

 _ **A/n: Hello Everybody! I'm glad so many people wanted to toon in for the rewrite. For the most part everybody really didn't ask any questions that I won't get to eventually, but for the few that were asked I'll try my best to answer them on here. First up: will Kaori have a better relationship with Gai and Kakashi? Yes, this is one of the many things I'm changing about the story. Both of them will get way more screen time. Second: Why did it take Kaori so long to realize she was living in a fictional universe? Well, to understand that you have to understand both the environment she was living in and Kaori herself. She basically spends the first two years of her life almost entirely in one place with a woman who HATES ninja! Obviously whenever they do get out, it'll have as little to do with them as possible. Also Kaori is very stubborn and very logical. She tends to deny the impossible with everything she has until it just can't not be true. Then she'll accept it and look for ways to live with it. Anyway, if there's anymore questions this chapter, this is where I'll answer them next time.**_

 _ **Also I have two photos of Kaori up on my deviantart. I tried putting the links up on my profile but they didn't show for some reason. Does anyone know how to fix that?**_

 _ **If you're still interested look me up on deviantart, my name is 'sweetlilsunshine' and the names of the photos are 'Through the Eyes of a Beastling Cover' and 'Kaori Maito Age Progression Meme'.  
**_

 _ **Thanks for reading!"**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**D: I do not own any Naruto copyrights.**_

For someone whose entire persona revolved around youth and glory, Gai could pull off stunned silence rather well.

He stared at the little girl with his hair, Junko's curls, and surprisingly deep brown eyes. She stared at the man with her shiny, thick hair, a green jumpsuit, and the largest eyebrows she'd ever seen.

Mao cleared her throat.

"Well then, I can prepare the chakra test now that you're here. If you're ready . . .?

It was a question Kaori really felt should be aimed her way. Didn't anyone care if _she_ was ready? Because she wasn't, not in the slightest. Her thoughts kept bouncing every which way. It was like her mind was rebelling. Gai, spandex wearing, youth spewing out the ass _Gai . . ._

 _Holy shit, the freaking 'Fabled Green Beast' of god dammed Konoha is my_ father _._

Yeah, that.

In short, this was a bombshell and she needed time to process it.

Thankfully said 'Green Beast' seemed to be on a similar page.

"Ah, Uchiha-san? Perhaps . . . perhaps we could have a moment?"

His voice –soft, shocked, and like the proverbial rug had been pulled from his feet- threw Kaori for a loop. She'd expected the boisterous proclaimer of rivalry, youth, and glory he'd been in his first second through the window. Thiswasn't anything like that. _This_ was the voice of someone who needed to sit down before they fell over, preferably with a large glass of water.

Why the hell would he-

Oh wait, Gai was real now. A real guy who'd just had the spawn he didn't know he'd had thrown at him. _Of course_ he'd react outside of her expectations. Real people didn't throw 'youth' at every situation. Exuberant personality or not, it was actually quite a surprise that he _hadn't_ keeled over.

Mao gently placed Kaori at Gai's feet. The new perspective made the man nothing less than a giant.

"Of course." The Uchiha woman sent a very pointed look at Kakashi. "Hatake-san? Would you like to help me prepare the test? We can set it up over there, in the other room. You two wait here, alright? We won't be long."

She then latched onto Kakashi –who shared a very unamused look with Kaori- and proceeded to drag him out of the room. The fact that the ninja left willingly – as the unsubtle Mao would have to be one heck of a ninja to _force_ him- only meant one thing.

Mainly that her and Gai were being left to _bond_.

Or get used to the fact that she was the living embodiment of a very bad decision on his part.

Whichever came first.

For a long and awkward moment, the staring continued. Then the man in the green spandex knelt to her level and grinned brightly. The smile, so wide that she was positive it 'pinged', was most definitely for her benefit.

"Hello Kaori-chan. I am Maito Gai, legendary Green Beast, greatest Taijutsu master in all of Konoha." There was a blink, if only because she'd never _actually_ thought he'd introduce himself like that. "Do you know who I am?"

It was a simple question with only one real answer, one that both Kakashi and Mao had hit her with multiple times just that day. A _normal_ child would've burbled a 'daddy', 'papa' or even a less cute 'father'. Kaori, as the metaphorical 'adult in toddler's clothing', heard it and suppressed an evil grin at the possibilities.

"You're the one who slept with Junko."

It was a shame Gai wasn't drinking anything, the spit take would've been marvelous.

 _Oh well, guess a coughing fit will have to do._

"W-why . . ." –Cough- "D-do you say . . ." –Cough, cough- " _that,_ K-Kaori-chan? It's n-not very . . ." Seriously, was this guy hacking up a lung? "y-youthful."

There was a shrug of little shoulders.

"I've heard things."

In retrospect, that probably wasn't the best thing to say to a ninja who probably thought she was abused. Kaori could practically see him connecting the wrong dots in his head, all but leaping to the conclusion of Junko sleeping around. _Junko_ , the woman who's first male contact in Kaori's lifetime -besides an occasional 'how much for the apples'- had been _Kakashi._

 _Ooops._

Oh well, she'd let him have his conclusions. There was no point to fixing the misunderstanding. Not when the woman in question had a lot more to deal with than a tarnished reputation.

Like her sanity, for one.

At least, there was no point . . . until Gai glomped her.

"Worry not Kaori-chan, I can see now that you have indeed been misled on your path to life! As of now, it is upon myself to show you the way of youthfulness!"

 _No, scratch that, there's definitely going to be some corrections in his assumptions. No way am I going down any road ending with 'youth'._

Though she didn't actually fight it –him being a ninja kinda made the point moot-, the hug earned a very long-suffering sigh on Kaori's part. It was a strange thing to hear from a toddler. "Actually Mr., we don't know if we're related yet. If you're not who they say you are, I'll go to the Orphanage. "

The option might actually end up the lesser of two evils. Maybe she'd throw whatever this test was and go there after all. It still sounded like a cesspool of misery, but she bet she could survive it. She'd lived through the Hospital –well sorta- and there'd been plenty of misery there.

After all, what would she end up with Gai? A spandex wearing munchkin with large eyebrows and a penchant for all things 'youth'?

She shuddered.

 _No thank you._

Kaori's wording seemed to throw Gai for a brief loop. He recovered with a kilowatt smile. "Ah, but we can find out! Uchiha-san!"

 _Because why go and get someone when yelling works perfectly well?_

"Yes, Maito-san?" Mao popped her head out of the room she'd disappeared to earlier. Seeing Gai snuggling Kaori like a strange apathetic teddy bear, she blinked once, twice, and then let it drop. Apparently she didn't want to know. "Did you need something?"

"Yosh! I have decided to take the young and misguided Kaori-chan under my wing! For her sake I will undergo the burden of parenthood!"

The woman didn't even flinch.

"Oh, well the test is ready if you want to come in now."

"Of course, Uchiha-san! We are ready."

He promptly walked them both into the testing room.

Kaori, relocated to his hip somewhere along the way, was left to scowl at the development.

Why? Because this was _twice_ that she was ignored in the big decisions. They affected her too! The girl let out a low huff. She _hated_ being two. No one ever expected opinions on the important stuff. To them sweet little Kaori was just the slightly lively doll brought along for the ride. No intelligence needed.

Unfortunately, it wasn't like she could just go and _say_ that. No, _that_ was only likely to get her more cutesy baby talk –Mao- and the likely possibility of another death hug –Gai-.

Ironic as it was, Kaori as the former sick kid -life was planned by doctors- had taken 'being taken seriously' for granted. Now she realized how much she missed it.

The room they entered looked pretty much like one of those interrogation rooms in cop movies. In fact it only held two things of note. Kakashi -propped against the back wall in a nonchalant way- and a scroll splayed across the sole table. The scroll, or –more accurately- the three scribbles laid out in a triangle pattern on its paper, caught Kaori's attention the moment they walked in.

Why? Because _those_ , despite formerly fictionalized, could only be one thing.

 _Seals. Honest to God, ninja magic,_ seals _. Is it healthy that I kinda want to touch them and see what happens?_

Kakashi's brow rose as they came in.

"Well aren't you two cozy."

As Kaori had been trying to nonverbally beam 'please help me' with her eyes, this earned the copy ninja a not too friendly glare. Being scooped up by the crazy spandex guy preaching parenthood was _not_ her idea of 'cozy'.

"If you're ready, let's begin. Now the chakra test works like this-" Mao pointed to the two outlying scribbles. "One of you will channel chakra into these two kanji here. It's the job of the seals to analyze both signatures and search for common frequencies. If it is, this seal-" She tapped the middle scribble." -will turn green. If not, red. Usually, if you're related, you're chakra's going to be similar. Sometimes sensors don't even need the test, it's just that obvious. To be safe, we'll do it anyway."

To be safe? That sounded like they'd already had a sensor look at her. Which would've been fine . . . if she actually _knew_ any.

 _Or do I? Did the anime ever say Kakashi could sense chakra?_

Suddenly Kaori had a flashback to her first day alive, back to the only time she'd ever felt the lava. Not that she managed to do it again. She'd tried, a while back, but had gotten nothing. Now she realized that her 'lava' would've actually been similar to a chakra flare. A weak one, sure, but probably still enough to get a good ninja's attention. If Kakashi had been close by at the time . . .

And if he'd thought her chakra was someone else's . . .

Is that why he showed up back then? Had he thought she was Gai?

"But I can't channel chakra."

Again, she _had_ tried.

Mao smiled in that sickeningly cute way she seemed to revert to whenever speaking to Kaori directly. "Oh, don't you worry about that, sweetie. That's what the funny kanji is for. It'll do the magic for you."

Kakashi just shot her a look.

 _Oh, that settles it. He_ definitely _knows that I've done it before._

"Alright! Let's get started then!"

Had she ever doubted that this Gai was as hyped up as his cartoon counterpart? Because he wasn't. The man practically dumped her on _top_ of one seal, all in a mad rush to slam his hand down on the other.

There was a _very_ large puff of energy. Gai's kanji started to glow.

"Uh . . . just touching it would've been fine, Maito-san." Mao, in the split second she faltered, looked to Kakashi for help. The silver ninja's answering shrug could have been many things. Kaori figured it was either a 'what do you want me to do?' or 'well, that's Gai for you.'

Of course, after that mini drama had played out, all that was left for everyone to turn as one and . . .

Stare at her expectantly.

 _Right, my turn now._

The girl looked down at the Kanji she was now sitting on, allowing herself to wonder for a brief moment what it meant for her. There was evidence, but she still sort of wished it'd still turn red and save her all the trouble. Gai didn't seem like the sort of guy to parent _lightly_. That thing turns green and her days of cloud watching and independence were as good as gone.

She gently pressed her hand over the kanji.

And then she prayed with every ounce of willpower she possessed in her tiny body. Prayed for it to turn red.

It didn't.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Standing in Gai's apartment, Kaori was struck with how different it was from the one she'd shared with Junko. Besides being nicer and bigger -it had two bedrooms instead of one-, this place wasn't as _personal_ as what she was used to. Junko, however cold towards her daughter she might have been, had _lived_ in her home. Hell, she'd never _left_ it.

It wasn't hard to tell that _living_ was not something Gai did there.

The sparsely decorated apartment wasn't dusty from neglect though. It was clean to an insane level actually. Wandering around the living room and running her toddler's hands along dust free surfaces, Kaori wondered if the spandex-clad ninja only returned just to clean the place.

Surprisingly enough, Kakashi and Gai weren't actually in the apartment with her. No, they had taken off shortly after bringing her there. The reason for that? Well, it'd started with Kakashi asking the innocent enough question if he could grab her stuff from Junko's. At the revelation that what she was wearing _was_ her stuff, Gai had promptly gone into a tirade on how it was his duty to provide for her. Not the next day –like any sane person-, but _right then._

That's about when the man had taken off to shop and Kakashi -just as enthused by Gai's mood as she was- had been dragged along. Fortunately for Kaori, she was a toddler who'd just had a _very_ long day. That made her exempt.

And left behind.

Not that she was alone, per se. No, in a feat that already proved him leagues above Junko when it came to parenting, Gai had summoned her a babysitter.

"You better not be getting into anything, brat."

Literally.

As she'd already discovered how fun it was to push the buttons of said sitter, Kaori purposefully ignored him. Her explorations became braver, more widespread.

Nikame, the red and yellow tortoise summon, seethed.

"Oi, brat! Don't you think I can't see you! You human hatchlings move too much. Come back here and stand still!"

Toddling down the hallway on short legs, the girl tried and failed to open the few doors she passed. Discovering quickly that she wasn't tall enough, nor strong enough to accomplish that, Kaori settled instead for peaking inside the one door that _wasn't_ closed.

Honestly, what she saw in there didn't surprise her in the least.

It was an exercise room. Or at least it was a bedroom that Gai'd probably converted into an exercise room somewhere along the way. There were several worn punching bags, sweat and blood stained matted floor, and various other weights and bars. Compared to the living room, this room was far more lived in.

Though Gai _was_ a Taijutsu Master. The guy probably was in this room more than the rest of his house combined.

A huge mirror suddenly caught Kaori's eye, not in the least because it was floor length and occupied the entirety of the back wall. To be more accurate, it wasn't the _mirror_ that captured her attention, but the little girl that stood within it.

Now Kaori _had_ seen her reflection before, it'd just always been fleeting. A glimpse while she was brushing her teeth usually. This was different. _This_ was all of her.

And, at the same time, it was also none of who she used to be.

The reflection stared out at Kaori with her dark cinnamon eyes set in a pale face. - _Blue eyes, face sick and gaunt-_ Soft black ringlets framed the young features before it cascaded down the back of her too short dress. – _Her hair was blond, yet also limp and stringy. She hardly wore anything but hospital gowns.-_

How could this be her?

 _How can I be so different?_

A heavy book thumped to the mats beside her.

"Didn't I say to stay put? What am I saying? I knew what you'd be like when _he_ told me _he'd_ reproduced. Any day now and you'll be jumping out the windows and doing handstands down the street. Probably crawl over the ceiling as well." Despite the wording, the gruff voice of the nin-tortoise didn't actually sound angry. In fact he didn't seem to be anything but grumpy.

 _Maybe he secretly enjoys Gai's antics. The tortoise certainly seems the type to complain just for the sake of complaining._

The summon in the doorframe nodded to what he'd just –and how he'd managed that without thumbs, she'd never know- thrown at her feet. "There's a book. Read it and stay out of trouble, brat."

Rather than pick up what was sure to be heavy, Kaori knelt down next to the book and ran a pudgy hand over the cover. It really was a beautiful thing, made from soft leather with words she didn't know engraved at the top alongside a myriad of other designs.

 _Speaking of which . . ._

"I can't read, tortoise-san."

Nikame blinked his yellow-rimmed eyes at her, obviously taken back. "You can't? Don't humans teach their hatchlings anything? No matter, that book's not the kind with words in it. We don't do the same in the Tetsu Sheru Plains, but it's my understanding that humans store memories in these. You don't know Gai. Perhaps this will interest you."

Translation: 'Here's a photo album to help you get to know your dad better'.

 _Awww. For a grumpy old guy, Nikame's actually kinda sweet._

So despite it still being a tense and unnatural action for this face, Kaori smiled at him.

Then she tried to pick up the book, failed, and ended up lugging it to the living room. There she somehow managed to push it up onto the couch. Clambering up after it, the girl plopped down, opened the cover, and prepared to 'read'.

Seeing anunhealthy amount of scribbles on the first page, she turned to the next page-

"That first character is 'Ko', say it."

Or at least she _tried_ . . . only for a giant nin-tortoise to appear out of thin air. _Right_ next to her.

Understandably, she was surprised.

" _GAAAAH!_ How did you _do_ that?!"

"Ninja tricks." Was the simple –rather blunt- answer. "Don't think I don't know you heard me, brat. 'Ko'. _Say it_."

Gulping at the very subtle intimidation in his tone, Kaori played it safe. Very carefully, she repeated the sound as perfect as he'd said it. It wasn't hard. She _did_ know the language. But, then again, she really doubted it was meant to be.

Nikame wasn't trying to _challenge_ her . . .

"Good. The second one is 'N'. Say it."

He was trying to _teach_ her.

 _Yup, sweet. Grumpy, but sweet._

And so the little girl sat, listened, and learned. Taught as grumpily as only a tortoise summon could, Kaori was slowly learning how to read.

Not that she did all –or even most- of it that day.

They never even _got_ to the photopart of the album, let alone made it through the scribbles on the first page. The lesson didn't progress past the first line, not even ten minutes in.

Kaori _did_ have a young body, after all. She tired easily and had to fight hard to have an attention span larger than a squirrel's. Focus was hard at the best of times. At the end of a long day of ninja tug-a-war? Impossible.

Shortly after they'd established the first word as 'Kon'nichiwa', her eyes drooped.

She'd drifted off.

Later and unbeknownst to Kaori, Gai came home. He saw the sleeping girl -curled up against Nikame in a way that was probably not comfortable - and quietly deposited of his bags. An old Polaroid camera was gently pulled from the shelf.

Gai snapped the photo with a faraway smile.

Then he stared at the camera for a very long time.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

If there was one word to describe living with Gai, that word would be 'interesting'.

Within the first few days of her moving in, everything was fine. Gai _did_ take 'youthful parenting' to the extreme, though not in any way that was too far from what she expected. The entirety of his exercise room was relocated to the living room, for one. Then came the literal flood of things Gai had bought to fill the void.

As someone with little in one life and _less_ than little in another, Kaori was overwhelmed.

Gai, without the slightest clue on what she'd actually need, had bought _everything_. If it'd had the words 'baby', 'child', or 'toddler' on it, it had ended up stacked somewhere in her new space.

It was so different from anything that she'd experienced before, whether the hospital bed or the cramped basket, that she simply had no words.

It was only afterwards, when the dust had settled and Kaori's 'room' was actually livable -and a rather bizarre matchup of furniture- that the girl truly realized what living with Gai would _really_ be like.

To put it simply, Gai wouldn't know what to do with a two year-old if one hit him in the face.

Not that the man didn't _try._ He, very much so, did. Whether it was cooking -when he was more likely to blow something up than make anything edible- or just going out of his way to make her smile, the trying was there. It was obvious he wanted to be a good father.

No, the _problem_ was that he expected her to be like a mini-adult, a carbon copy of his mature ninja comrades. When he went for his insane - _I swear this guy has no off switch_ \- amounts of daily training, she was expected to be there training right beside him. Kaori wasn't an athlete. It was unlikely she'd ran a mile once in either of her lives. Just an hour of Gai's _warm-up_ had her tired. Half the time she never even _made_ it to the training.

To be honest, it was a personality trait that could be fully blamed on Gai's own upbringing.

He'd become a ninja young. Seven, if she remembered correctly. Nearly the same as Kakashi's five.

There was no childhood for him to base her off of. Insane exercise and rigorous training was all he'd known so, as a result, it was what he passed down to her. It was somewhat sad, seeing a full grown adult with no concept on how to be a child. Even Kaori, an adult in everything but body, had been truly young once.

So rather than hold Gai's faults against him, the toddler pulled Kakashi aside and planned.

And though the masked ninja was only chosen because he and Nikame were the only true company she kept, the other man was surprisingly up for what she had in mind.

The day to strike?

Her third birthday, of course.

 _ **A/n: Hello everybody. Sorry this took so long, I thought it'd be easier to write than it was. Now, at 2 AM and finally done writing, I'm pretty sure there might be a few mistakes the exhausted me missed. If there are, feel free to point them out. And again, any questions asked will be answered here next chapter.**_

 _ **Also as another reminder, the fanart for this story on deviantart are 'Through the Eyes of a Beastling Cover' and 'Kaori Maito Age Meme'. If you haven't already checked them out, feel free to look them up. My username on deviantart is 'sweetlilsunshine.' And if you have any ideas for more fanart, I'm always up to hearing them as long as they're reasonable.**_


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